NOtoAV

NO to AV – the cross-party, non-partisan campaign against the Alternative Vote is this week launching the next phase of its campaign, calling for the protection of the principle of one person, one vote.

Accompanied by a mass advertising campaign in the Monday morning newspapers and billboards adverts, the OPOV message builds on the previous months of campaigning, during which the NO campaign has set out its opposition to a change to the Alternative Vote system as expensive and a politicians’ fix.

The adverts contrast the simplicity and fairness of our current system – One Person, One Vote – with the complexity and unfairness of the Alternative Vote system, which allows the people who support smaller parties to have their vote counted several times (please email press@no2av.org for a copy of the OPOV advert).

NO to AV Campaign Director, Matthew Elliott, commented:

“One person, one vote is the cornerstone of our democracy. It represents our most profound political belief. It is a statement that when it comes to electing those who lead us, we each have an equal say and an equal voice. That is why we are clear in our aim: Keep One Person, One Vote and stop supporters of extremist, fringe parties getting more than one vote.”

Joan Ryan, NO to AV Deputy Campaign Director, added:

“With the launch of One Person, One Vote, we provide those who know that AV is the wrong change with a simple reason to reject it. For centuries, generations of reformers were inspired by a simple principle. They believed that because each person is equal, they should each have an equal vote. Right now, 2.4 billion people choose their governments using first-past-the-post. That’s 2.4 billion people – each with one ballot paper and one, equal, vote.”

This is accompanied with the launch of One Person, One Vote tomorrow morning with a photo op of 200+ people holding their one vote in Westminster – to register to attend this event please call 07919 124 975.

Matthew Elliott and Joan Ryan have also spelled out the transition to the new OPOV message in further detail with articles on Conservative Home (click here to read in full) and Labour List.

ENDS

For more information and to arrange broadcast interviews with a NO to AV spokesman please contact the NO to AV Press Office on press@no2av.org or 07919 124 975

NOTES TO EDITORS

1.      The One Person, One Vote advert will be appearing in the Times, the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian on Monday 28^th March 2011. To see a full version of the advert please email press@no2av.org.

2.      A short history of NO to AV so far

NO to AV – the non-partisan, cross-party campaign which has been established to campaign for a ‘no’ vote in the proposed referendum on the voting system on 5 May – launched in Westminster on 14^th February. Alongside a detailed document which demonstrated how the Alternative Vote would cost the taxpayer up to £250 million, NO to AV embarked upon a nationwide billboard campaign to educate the British public about the huge expense of a change to AV. This was supported with a mass poster and leafleting campaign focussed on the message of ‘President Clegg’; in which the Alternative Vote was shown to be a voting system that benefited the Liberal Democrats more than any other party – hence the Deputy Prime Minister bargaining away promises on tuition fees and VAT for AV – and would allow Nick Clegg to choose the government after each General Election. The launch of One Person, One Vote is intended to provide those who know that the Alternative Vote is the wrong change – whether because it is expensive, a politicians’ fix or other reasons – with a simple, positive, reason to reject it.

3.      NO to AV debates and regional launches

In mid-January NO to AV announced a tour of Town Hall AV debates. The tour comprised of 19 debates set up in towns and cities across the UK, each with an impartial local personality as an independent Chair and local media outlet as sponsor. The Yes to AV campaign were invited in January but two days before the start of the opening debate in Sheffield – in which Nick Clegg had been invited to put his case in front of his constituents – the local Yes campaigners pulled out of the debate saying a message had come from ‘on high’ (which was later found to be Yes Director of Comms, Paul Sinclair) that the No debates were to be boycotted. Since that date, the Yes campaign have only turned up on one occasion – at the Bristol debate (where they have, arguably, their biggest number of supporters). Fortunately local green party and UKIP AV supporters have stepped in to replace the Yes campaign and the debates have been very successful in taking the message to the British people. With the debates all but complete NO to AV has now begun a second regional tour, launching local NO to AV campaigns in Swansea, Cardiff, Bristol and Swindon in the first part of last week, with over 50 further local launches to come.

4.      The polls

There has been a marked change in the polls since mid-February before NO to AV launched and the Town Hall debate tour began. Both the prompted and unprompted questions (where AV is explained prior to asking the referendum question, and where it is not) showing a fall in the Yes vote and an increase in the No vote above the margin of error.

ComRes monthly tracker (unprompted question)

YouGov tracker (prompted question)

5.      For further information please go to www.no2av.org